“Alright, I have been a little bit in the background, but whatever I’ve done I think it’s been recognised.”

But surely there must have been occasions when Gold felt he ought to have indulged in a spot of self-promotion?

“I would say I’m on the fence with that one. There’s the comfort being free and not being bombarded like my brother.

“When we first went to football matches we used to sign autographs together. We’d have 50 people around us every game.

“David became the chairman and I became ‘Ralph Gold, brackets ...’.

“It didn’t worry me. I was never ever chasing for this acceptance or whatever. I was quite prepared and quite happy to be in the background and it worked out very well.

“Perhaps I was wrong in not being a bit more upfront, a bit more showy in what I did. How I was perceived, it wasn’t an issue for me.

“My wonderful mother, Rosie, started the senior citizens’ club when we first arrived and I was always happy attending those meetings. I grew up with them, if you like.

“Karren Brady and David Sullivan probably see that as nothing, I see it as a very important thing. It made me feel better about Birmingham people because I got to know them, intimately.

“There were other things that people didn’t know about. For example, I dealt with Steve Claridge, I kept him on a little bit longer than he otherwise would have been kept on by cajoling him over his pay rise – it was a stand-off at the time – and he did stay a bit longer.”

Gold had, understandably, spent a considerable amount of time caring for his partner, Diane Mollett, who died in 2005 after a long illness. Blues came second.

After a period of grieving, he met and fell in love with Paula Charlton, who was his constant companion at Blues games.

“Her life has been enormously affected by Birmingham City,” said Gold. “She was as committed to the club as I was.”

Gold, who always frowned upon Sullivan’s outbursts, became very close to Barry Fry and his relationship with Steve Bruce was strong.

He said: “Our families both have villas in Portugal and Paula was a very close friend of Steve’s wife.

“It created a family atmosphere. Steve was good in the boardroom, managers weren’t always regulars in the boardroom.